Saturday, June 16, 2012

First Day in Sitka

Our first day in Sitka has been glorious. We've been revelling in wandering
around the town, getting our bearings, and chatting to anyone who will
listen.

Checking in with the harbour master and clearing customs was a simple
procedure. In fact, it was so simple, we wondered if we'd forgotten one, or
several, steps! Only customs seemed concerned with our arrival. No
immigration. No health. No agriculture. And Customs only seemed interested
in issuing us our cruising permit, without concern for our clearance papers
from our last port, what items we have on board, etc, etc. When we asked her
if we should check with immigration, she said it wasn't necessary. We were
Canadians, after all!! Nice. We're happy to be here.

After receiving our cruising permit, we pulled on our walking shoes and
headed for town. We inspected the sporting goods store (cabin heaters), the
grocery store (greens), the trinket stores (souvenirs), and found a cute
restaurant for lunch. We also picked up a new comforter for the bed and a
propane cabin heater.

We returned to the boat for a rest and shower, during which time the
forecast gale began to make it's appearance in the harbour. Rain began to
fall, and wind whistled through the rigging of the boats. By the time we
were ready to head out for dinner, we decided against walking into town for
a dinner that we would likely sleep through. Instead we hit the nearby
golden arches and quickly returned to the boat for an early night. We were
exhausted, and slept blissfully for 10 hours, each of us waking only a few
times, our bodies well tuned to a 5 hour sleep cycle.

Now, onto boat projects and more exploring...

**We don't have internet on the boat here in the harbour, but we'll still
attempt regular updates.**

3 comments:

Narama said...

Congrats on your arrival!!!!

There used to be the Best bookstore in Sitka, not sure if its still there, possibily the best on the coast!

Love from Heidi and Stephen.

Unknown said...

We are so used to seeing you guys all tanned in shorts and tank tops and flipflops, I don't know if we'll recognize you in sweaters, hats, boots and parkas. Congrats on your safe passage. :)

Jason said...

What an awesome voyage! We get tired after a 40 mile day. I can't imagine what it takes to do your trip. Congratulations on making it safely! Can't wait to hook up with you guys at some point up here. We're in Prince Rupert now and headed to Ketchikan in the next couple days.

Jason
s/v hello world

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Hi - thanks for leaving a comment on the blog! Cheers - John and Naomi